Cartilage is an avascular tissue of which chondrocytes are the main cellular component. The chondrocytes in normal articular cartilage occupy approximately 5% of the tissue volume, while the extra-cellular matrix makes up the remaining 95% of the tissue. The chondrocytes secrete the components of the matrix, mainly proteoglycans and collagens, which in turn supply the chondrocytes with an environment suitable for their survival under mechanical stress. In cartilage, collagen type II, together with the protein collagen type IX, is arranged in solid fibril-like structures which provide cartilage with great mechanical strength. The proteoglycans can absorb water and are responsible for the resilient and shock absorbing properties of the cartilage.
One of the functional roles of cartilage in the joint is to allow bones to articulate on each other smoothly. Loss of articular cartilage, therefore, causes the bones to rub against each other leading to pain and loss of mobility. The degradation of cartilage can have various causes. In inflammatory arthritides, as rheumatoid arthritis for example, cartilage degradation is caused by the secretion of proteases (e.g. collagenases) by inflamed tissues (the inflamed synovium for example). Cartilage degradation can also be the result of an injury of the cartilage, due to an accident or surgery, or exaggerated loading or ‘wear and tear’. The ability of cartilage tissue to regenerate after such insults is limited. Chondrocytes in injured cartilage often display reduced cartilage synthesizing (anabolic) activity and/or increased cartilage degrading (catabolic) activity.
The degeneration of cartilage is the hallmark of various diseases, among which rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are the most prominent. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic joint degenerative disease, characterized by inflammation and destruction of the joint structures. When the disease is unchecked, it leads to substantial disability and pain due to loss of joint functionality and even premature death. The aim of an RA therapy, therefore, is not to slow down the disease but to attain remission in order to stop the joint destruction. Besides the severity of the disease outcome, the high prevalence of RA (˜0.8% of the adults are affected worldwide) means a high socio-economic impact. (For reviews on RA, we refer to Smolen and Steiner (2003); Lee and Weinblatt (2001); Choy and Panayi (2001); O'Dell (2004) and Firestein (2003)).
Osteoarthritis (also referred to as OA, or wear-and-tear arthritis) is the most common form of arthritis and is characterized by loss of articular cartilage, often associated with hypertrophy of the bone and pain. The disease mainly affects hands and weight-bearing joints such as knees, hips and spines. This process thins the cartilage. When the surface area has disappeared due to the thinning, a grade I osteoarthritis is reached; when the tangential surface area has disappeared, grade II osteoarthritis is reached. There are further levels of degeneration and destruction, which affect the deep and the calcified cartilage layers that border with the subchondral bone. For an extensive review on osteoarthritis, we refer to Wieland et al., 2005.
The clinical manifestations of the development of the osteoarthritis condition are: increased volume of the joint, pain, crepitation and functional disability that lead to pain and reduced mobility of the joints. When disease further develops, pain at rest emerges. If the condition persists without correction and/or therapy, the joint is destroyed leading to disability. Replacement surgery with total prosthesis is then required.
Therapeutic methods for the correction of the articular cartilage lesions that appear during the osteoarthritic disease have been developed, but so far none of them have been able to mediate the regeneration of articular cartilage in situ and in vivo.
Osteoarthritis is difficult to treat. At present, no cure is available and treatment focuses on relieving pain and preventing the affected joint from becoming deformed. Common treatments include the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Although dietary supplements such as chondroitin and glucosamine sulphate have been advocated as safe and effective options for the treatment of osteoarthritis, a recent clinical trial revealed that both treatments did not reduce pain associated to osteoarthritis. (Clegg et al., 2006). Taken together, no disease modifying osteoarthritic drugs are available.
In severe cases, joint replacement may be necessary. This is especially true for hips and knees. If a joint is extremely painful and cannot be replaced, it may be fused. This procedure stops the pain, but results in the permanent loss of joint function, making walking and bending difficult.
Another possible treatment is the transplantation of cultured autologous chondrocytes. Here, chondral cellular material is taken from the patient, sent to a laboratory where it is expanded. The material is then implanted in the damaged tissues to cover the tissue's defects.
Another treatment includes the intra-articular instillation of Hylan G-F 20 (e.g. Synvisc®, Hyalgan®, Artz®), a substance that improves temporarily the rheology of the synovial fluid, producing an almost immediate sensation of free movement and a marked reduction of pain.
Other reported methods include application of tendinous, periosteal, fascial, muscular or perichondral grafts; implantation of fibrin or cultured chondrocytes; implantation of synthetic matrices, such as collagen, carbon fiber; administration of electromagnetic fields. All of these have reported minimal and incomplete effects, resulting in a poor quality tissue that can neither support the weighted load nor allow the restoration of an articular function with normal movement.
Stimulation of the anabolic processes, blocking catabolic processes, or a combination of these two, may result in stabilization of the cartilage, and perhaps even reversion of the damage, and therefore prevent further progression of the disease. Various triggers may stimulate anabolic stimulation of chondrocytes. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is the predominant anabolic growth factor in synovial fluid and stimulates the synthesis of both proteoglycans and collagen. It has also been shown that members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family, notably BMP2, BMP4, BMP6, and BMP7, and members of the human transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family can induce chondrocyte anabolic stimulation (Chubinskaya and Kuettner, 2003). A compound has recently been identified that induces anabolic stimulation of chondrocytes (U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,854; EP 1 391 211). However, most of these compounds show severe side effects and, consequently, there is a strong need for compounds that stimulate chondrocyte differentiation without these side effects.
Vandeghinste et al. (WO 2005/124342) discovered JAK1 as a target whose inhibition might have therapeutic relevance for several diseases including OA. JAK1 belongs to the Janus kinase (JAK) family of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases, involved in cytokine receptor-mediated intracellular signal transduction. The JAK family consists of 4 members: JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2. JAKs are recruited to cytokine receptors, upon binding of the cytokine, followed by heterodimerization of the cytokine receptor and a shared receptor subunit (common gamma-c chain, gp130). JAKs are then activated by auto- and/or transphosphorylation by another JAK, resulting in phosphorylation of the receptors and recruitment and phosphorylation of members of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STATs). Phosphorylated STATs dimerize and translocate to the nucleus where they bind to enhancer regions of cytokine-responsive genes. Knockout of the JAK1 gene in mice demonstrated that JAK1 plays essential and nonredundant roles during development: JAK1−/− mice died within 24 h after birth and lymphocyte development was severely impaired. Moreover, JAK1−/− cells were not, or less, reactive to cytokines that use class II cytokine receptors, cytokine receptors that use the gamma-c subunit for signaling and the family of cytokine receptors that use the gp130 subunit for signaling (Rodig et al., 1998).
Various groups have implicated JAK-STAT signaling in chondrocyte biology. Li et al. (2001) showed that Oncostatin M induces MMP and TIMP3 gene expression in primary chondrocytes by activation of JAK/STAT and MAPK signaling pathways. Osaki et al. (2003) showed that interferon-gamma mediated inhibition of collagen II in chondrocytes involves JAK-STAT signaling. IL1-beta induces cartilage catabolism by reducing the expression of matrix components, and by inducing the expression of collagenases and inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2), which mediates the production of nitric oxide (NO). Otero et al., (2005) showed that leptin and IL1-beta synergistically induced NO production or expression of NOS2 mRNA in chondrocytes, and that that was blocked by a JAK inhibitor. Legendre et al. (2003) showed that IL6/IL6 Receptor induced downregulation of cartilage-specific matrix genes collagen II, aggrecan core and link protein in bovine articular chondrocytes, and that this was mediated by JAK/STAT signaling. Therefore, these observations suggest a role for JAK kinase activity in cartilage homeostasis and therapeutic opportunities for JAK kinase inhibitors.
JAK family members have been implicated in additional conditions including mycloproliferative disorders (O'Sullivan et al, 2007, Mol Immunol. 44(10):2497-506), where mutations in JAK2 have been identified. This indicates that inhibitors of JAK in particular JAK2 may also be of use in the treatment of myeloproliferative disorders. Additionally, the JAK family, in particular JAK1, JAK2 and JAK3, has been linked to cancers, in particular leukaemias e.g. acute myeloid leukaemia (O'Sullivan et al, 2007, Mol Immunol. 44(10):2497-506; Xiang et al., 2008, “Identification of somatic JAK1 mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia” Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online Dec. 26, 2007; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-05-090308) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Mullighan et al, 2009) or solid tumours e.g. uterine leiomyosarcoma (Constantinescu et al., 2007, Trends in Biochemical Sciences 33(3): 122-131), prostate cancer (Tam et al., 2007, British Journal of Cancer, 97, 378-383) These results indicate that inhibitors of JAK, in particular of JAK1 and/or JAK2, may also have utility in the treatment of cancers (leukaemias and solid tumours e.g. uterine leiomyosarcoma, prostate cancer).
In addition, Castleman's disease, multiple myeloma, mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, psoriasis, and Kaposi's sarcoma are likely due to hypersecretion of the cytokine IL-6, whose biological effects are mediated by intracellular JAK-STAT signaling (Tetsuji Naka, Norihiro Nishimoto and Tadamitsu Kishimoto, Arthritis Res 2002, 4 (suppl 3):S233-S242). This result shows that inhibitor of JAK, may also find utility in the treatment of said diseases.
A link with autoimmune diseases has been established for JAK3 and Tyk2. Mutations in JAK3 but also in the upstream signaling components gamma-c receptor chain and IL7 receptor account in aggregate for ˜70% of cases of human severe combined immunodeficiency (‘OShea et al., 2004). Note that JAK1 cooperates with JAK3 in transducing signals from the gamma-c receptor chain. Tyk2 polymorphisms are seen in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (O'Sullivan et al, 2007, Mol Immunol. 44(10):2497-506). Hence, targeting the JAK family may provide a therapeutic opportunity in the immuno-inflammation area.
The current therapies are not satisfactory and therefore there remains a need to identify further compounds that may be of use in the treatment of diseases involving cartilage degradation, bone and/or joint degradation, for example osteoarthritis; and/or conditions involving inflammation or immune responses, such as Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, allergic airways disease (e.g. asthma, rhinitis), juvenile idiopathic arthritis, colitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, endotoxin-driven disease states (e.g. complications after bypass surgery or chronic endotoxin states contributing to e.g. chronic cardiac failure), diseases involving impairment of cartilage turnover (e.g diseases involving the anabolic stimulation of chondrocytes), congenital cartilage malformations, diseases associated with hypersecretion of IL6 and transplantation rejection (e.g. organ transplant rejection). Inhibitors of JAK can also find application in the treatment of proliferative diseases. In particular the inhibitors of JAK find application in the treatment of cancers, especially leukaemias and solid tumours (e.g. uterine leiomyosarcoma, prostate cancer). The present invention therefore provides compounds, methods for their manufacture and a pharmaceutical comprising a compound of the invention together with a suitable pharmaceutical carrier. The present invention also provides for the use of a compound of the invention in the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of degenerative joint diseases.